The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan in Color
8 — Wednesday, February 23, 2022 

Well, here we are again. I 

can’t say I’m surprised; I don’t 
even think I’m disappointed. 
Deep down, I knew it was only 
a matter of time before more of 
the National Football League’s 
(NFL) corruption would come 
to light to prove, yet again, that 
no matter how many helmets 
they print “end racism” on, the 
NFL is, without a doubt, racist. I 
was hopeful that the next piece 

I would write about the NFL 
would be to praise some of my 
current favorite quarterbacks 
that have completely changed 
the game. Patrick Mahomes, 
Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray 
and Russell Wilson, I’m talking 
to you. Unfortunately, another 
instance of systemic racism in 
the NFL has been brought to 
light with a recent lawsuit by for-
mer Miami Dolphins head coach 
Brian Flores.

Flores has sued the NFL claim-

ing the organization was racially 
discriminatory in its head coach 
hiring process. He alleges that 
the owner of the Dolphins, Uni-
versity of Michigan’s own Ste-
phen M. Ross, of the Ross School 
of 
Business, 
offered 
Flores 

money to purposely lose games 
in the 2019 season. Having more 
losses than wins would better 
the Dolphins’ chances of acquir-
ing a higher draft pick, allowing 
them to select the best upcom-
ing player for the future of their 
franchise. However, Flores was 

focused on having a successful 
season by winning, not by manip-
ulating the future NFL draft. 
Every time Flores and his team 
would win games, the Dolphins’ 
general manager would express 
anger towards him, claiming 
that he was hurting the team. 
With his commitment to the cur-
rent success of his team, Flores 
recorded back-to-back winning 
seasons with the Dolphins for 
the first time since 2003. Despite 

the immense success he brought 
this organization, on Jan. 10, the 
Dolphins fired him, on grounds 
of being considered difficult to 
work with.

Then, as he began seeking a 

new job as a head coach, Flores 
attended interviews with the 
New York Giants and the Den-
ver Broncos. Flores had a Zoom 
interview with the Giants and 
was given a date for an in-person 
interview in the near future. 
However, before this interview, 
he was informed through a text 
by one of his old colleagues that 
someone else had received the 
position. The NFL has a rule 
called the Rooney Rule, which 
states that its teams are required 
to hold an in-person interview 
with at least one minority or 
female candidate for a general 
manager or head coach posi-
tion. This means they were still 
required to hold the interview, 
only for him to find out that 
someone else was offered the 
position a day later, implying 
that the decision had already 
been finalized before Flores’s 
interview. Flores states he had a 
similar experience in interviews 
with the hiring managers of the 
Denver Broncos, further alleging 
that the interviewees arrived an 
hour late and were hungover. 

In addition to his success-

ful seasons with the Dolphins, 
Flores has had a triumphant 
coaching career with other NFL 
teams. As an assistant coach, 
defensive coordinator and safe-
ties coach for the New England 
Patriots, he has won four Super 
Bowl titles. Many of the players 
he has coached rave about how 

supportive and compassionate 
he was to them. His past col-
leagues have even stated that he 
is dedicated “to doing things the 
right way. He never cut corners… 
He’s always been a guy that’s 
been level, never too high, never 
too low. That’s what made him 
a great player, and that’s what’s 
making him a great coach.” 
Flores has an incredible résumé 
and numerous accolades to his 
name; having recently been fired 
from the Dolphins being denied 
these two head coaching posi-
tions is questionable consider-
ing the large impact he has had 
on the organization in his time 
there and the potential he brings 
for its future. 

The NFL has a long history 

of racial discrimination against 
Black coaches. The fact that the 
Rooney Rule exists just to check 
a box to say that a marginalized 
individual was taken into con-
sideration shows its corruption. 
Flores having been fired because 
he was labeled difficult to work 
with, a common way of devalu-
ing Black people in professional 
settings, shows the NFL’s dis-
criminatory ways. I hope he is 
given the justice he deserves. 
The NFL is long overdue in 
enacting actual systemic change 
and owning up to its apparent 
discrimination. But instead of 
focusing solely on all the ways 
this institution is corrupt, I want 
to now call attention to some of 
the amazing and talented Black 
coaches in NFL history and pres-
ent day.

Hue Jackson is a former coach 

of the Cleveland Browns who had 
an impressive coaching career. 

As a testament to this, Jackson 
won the 2015 NFL Assistant 
Coach of the Year award and has 
played an integral role in the suc-
cess of franchises he has been a 
part of. Former colleagues praise 
him for his industrious mentality 
and overall commitment to play-
er development. However, Jack-
son claims to have had the same 
experience as Flores in his time 
with the Browns. The Browns 
offered him money to lose games 
and were successful in their goal 
of acquiring high draft picks; 
but Jackson was fired from his 
position in the 2019 season. He 
now serves as the head coach of 
Grambling State’s football team. 

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Head 

Coach, Mike Tomlin, has given 
this 
organization 
consistent 

success in his 15 seasons with 
the Steelers. Tomlin made his-
tory in the NFL this most recent 
season by setting the record for 
the most consecutive non-losing 
seasons at the beginning of a 
coaching career. He has seven 
American Football Conference 
(AFC) North Division titles, two 
AFC titles, has had nine playoff 
appearances and is the youngest 
coach to win a Super Bowl. He is 
one of the longest-tenured active 
head coaches in the NFL. Tom-
lin is praised by his players and 
fellow NFL coaches for how well 
he controls and commands his 
team. Mike Tomlin still remains 
the head coach of the Steelers. 

As a Lions fan, I have a soft 

spot for Jim Caldwell. Though 
there has not been much to cel-
ebrate in Lions history, Caldwell 
gave Detroit hope for a brighter 
future during his time here as 

a head coach. At the beginning 
of his career with the Tampa 
Bay Buccaneers, he trained its 
quarterback, 
Brad 
Johnson, 

and in turn, Johnson broke 
team records for passing yards, 
completions and attempts, help-
ing the team to finish with a 
winning season and a National 
Football Conference Wild Card 
spot. He served as part of the 
coaching staff for seven years 
with the Indianapolis Colts, and 
head coach for another three 
years. In nine of these seasons, 
the Colts set records by appear-
ing in nine consecutive playoff 
appearances in which they won 
six AFC South titles and made 
it to two Super Bowls, winning 
one. Later, serving as an offen-
sive coordinator for the Balti-
more Ravens, Caldwell led the 
team to a Super Bowl win. Final-
ly, in his time with the Detroit 
Lions, the defense ranked sec-
ond in the NFL in total defense 
in 2014, making it one of its best 
defensive teams in Lions history. 
He was also the Lions’ first non-
interim coach to leave the team 
with a winning record since the 
1967-72 coach, Joe Schmidt, with 
two playoff seasons. He was 
fired from the Lions in 2017 on 
grounds of not being successful 
enough against higher-ranked 
teams for the then general man-
ager, Bob Quinn. Jim Caldwell 
was the Lions’ most successful 
coach in almost 30 years. Two 
coaches have since gone on to 
take his place, but they have 
failed to even reach Caldwell in 
his success. 

I love clothes. My night-time 

routine involves plugging music 
into my ear and muting out all 
my thoughts because at the 
end of a long and stressful day 
of classes, I get to unwind and 
focus on creating my next day’s 
outfit. At the end of a long day, 
what I want to focus on most are 
the clothes in my closet. I spend 
a few intimate moments curat-
ing what I want to wear and how 
I want to wear it. I want to look 
good for me, myself and I. 

Today, my fashion inspira-

tion comes from the rappers 
I listen to, the skateboarders I 
keep up with, the N.B.A play-
ers I imitate and Mexican L.A. 
street style. Artists like Kanye 
West, Tyler, the Creator, Frank 
Ocean, skaters like Louie Lopez 
and Sean Pablo and athletes like 
Kevin Durant put together out-
fits that make them shine bright. 
Each has a unique and signature 
style, inspiring me to curate my 
own. There’s a tension, however, 
between being truly unique and 
conforming to the trends of soci-
ety.

Over the years, I’m sure 

you’ve come across the “Aes-
thetic Starter Pack” meme. It’s a 
collection of clothing pieces that 
are associated with a particular 
type of person. It’s interesting to 
see how people categorize them-
selves, others and their person-
alities based on a particular set 
of clothing. When I go out to 
skate, I put on my beanie, button 
up shirt and loose flowing pair of 
pants to pull off a classic skater 
boy look. It’s fun and easy, but I 
want to push myself to not fall for 
the trends too heavily. Though 

thrifting, I’m able to experiment 
with my clothes and avoid cur-
rent trends by acquiring time-
less pieces. Thrifting allows me 
to enter my own fashion world 
and find my own style in a finan-
cially stable and sustainable way. 
I’m creating my own collection 
of clothes that speak to me. I 
find confidence in who I am by 
what I wear, and finding my own 
style fuels an ongoing journey of 
authenticity. When I look good 
and feel good about myself, I can 
feel better on my skateboard or 
on the basketball court.

When I am thrifting, my 

eyes are constantly adjusting, 
moving from left to right as my 
fingers comb the clothing racks 

in search of my next purchase. 
It takes time, but I search for 
pieces that call to me. It could 
be a smaller fitting shirt that 
complements my skinny frame 
or an oversized dress shirt that 
drapes over my arms. I’m always 
looking for polos of all different 
shapes and sizes or pants that 
are baggy enough to cuff and fit 
nicely over my sneakers. Thrift-
ing appeals to me because you 
can become the owner of a piece 
that is one of a kind. Thrift stores 
are not like the stores at malls, 
where there are hundreds of 
shirts in all sizes with the same 

graphic. These clothes come 
from dusty basements and can 
be generation-long hand-me-
downs. And, if someone doesn’t 
love or want their piece of cloth-
ing, I’m able to take it in and care 
for it. 

One particular piece of cloth-

ing that I care deeply for came 
from the city of Detroit. When I 
lived in Detroit this past summer, 
I explored the city and visited 
all the thrift stores and vintage 
shops to find my next catch. I 
learned about the city’s history 
and gained a greater apprecia-
tion for its culture. Detroit loves 
its sports teams, with the Detroit 
Pistons playing such an impor-
tant role in the city’s culture. 

The Pistons are three-time 
world champions. From the 
Bad Boy Pistons winning two 
championships in the late 80s 
to beating the Shaq and Kobe 
duo in 2004, Detroiters love the 
Pistons and living in Detroit 
made me become a bigger fan of 
the team. On weekends when I 
wasn’t working at my internship, 
I would bike down to Tolan Park 
and play basketball on a court 
designed with Pistons decals. I 
would join pick up games with 
the people from the city and play 
for hours. I was playing basket-
ball in Detroit while listening 

to some of my favorite Detroit 
artists like Baby Tron and Flint 
rappers like Rio Da Yung Og. 
My love for the city, and the Pis-
tons, made me want to thrift and 
find vintage Pistons pieces, so I 
embarked on a search. 

A few blocks from Tolan Park 

is Eastern Market. This farm-
ers market is filled with food 
vendors on Saturdays, but on 
Sundays, the sheds become a 
space for vendors to sell their 
art, clothes, jewelry and more. 
One vendor, Brandon’s Vintage 
Basement, had my attention the 
moment I laid my eyes on the 
clothes racks stuffed with vin-
tage Detroit sports teams shirts. 
Vintage tees can be expensive 
— ranging from $50-$200 — 
but I was always aware of my 
budget. I kept drifting back and 
forth from this stand through-
out the day, finding myself star-
ing at the shirts on the rack and 
debating if I should purchase a 
Detroit Pistons shirt. I eventu-
ally had to ask myself, ‘when will 
I ever be living in Detroit, on my 
own, spending the summer in 
the city?’ My summer in Detroit 
would be coming to an end, and I 
needed something to remember 
it by. I finally purchased a black 
shirt with the classic Pistons 
logo from the 90s, even though 
it was more pricey than usual, 
because I knew that I would love 
and wear that shirt until it wore 
down to its final thread. And far 
later that summer, I also found a 
championship hat from the ‘04 
Pistons title run. When I bought 
this hat, I knew that I was paying 
for a quality hat that, to me, had 
a deeply sacred and historical 
meaning. 

1. What you need: flour, yeast, water, 

salt and olive oil. Focaccia is a no-brain-
er for beginner bakers. It’s the perfect 
bread for college students who commute 
back and forth between classes and club 
meetings. The yeast respiration allows 
the dough to rise in the fridge overnight, 
without excessive kneading or complica-
tions. 

2. My mother says only food sticks in 

my memory. Her secret noodle recipe 
which became a go-to whenever we were 
too lazy to cook. The individual drops of 
rice swimming in the porridge for my sick 
days as a child, with a perfect consistency 
achieved from being boiled on low heat 
for hours. The vegetarian bao, bursting 
with bok choy, shiitake mushrooms and 
tofu, that she and I always picked up on 
Friday afternoons in Shanghai. She hates 
that I forget to bring my homework to 
school, but never the packed lunch. She 
hates that I forget she’s a light sleeper 
when I lurch into the kitchen at 2 a.m., 
shoving Kirkland Mixed Nuts down my 
throat until my heartbeat slows. 

3. Measure yeast and mix it with room-

temperature water. Using warm water 
nurtures the yeast and helps it grow. 

4. My mother’s birthplace is named 

after its proximity to water. The area of 
the country is, which is “South of the 
River” in Chinese. The women of 
 

were known to be honey-voiced, moon-
skinned with hips that homed oceans 
and swayed liked fishtails. We know this 
because male poets wrote about them 
for dynasties. My mother was raised by 
her grandparents on sticky rice rolls that 
wrapped youtiao, marinated egg, zhacai, 
yellow croaker noodles and shengjianbao. 
Later, she moved to Beijing for schooling, 
where her parents worked as aerospace 
engineers.

5. Pour the yeast water into the salt-

and-flour mixture. Mix gently until a 
mass forms in your bowl. Pour the olive 
oil and begin kneading.

6. is the abbreviation of my father’s 

home province, named after the state of 

 from the Spring and Autumn period. 
But the only seasons I remember of his 
city are the summers and winters, when 
my family visits for the holiday. My father 
comes from the land of black vinegar, 
knife-sliced noodles, millet porridge and 
coal mines. My mother told me that he 
never tasted fish before the age of 12. The 
eldest son in a peasant family of six, my 
father was his family’s pride for attending 
a top college in the capital. After gradu-
ation, he drifted toward the seaside and 
settled there, where he gradually grew 
accustomed to the breakfast xiaolongbao 
and plum rain.

7. Olive oil should alleviate the sticki-

ness of the dough. Once all the flour is 
properly incorporated into the mixture, 
you are more than halfway there. Cover 
the bowl and leave it in the fridge for at 
least 12 hours. 

8. Even after my parents got married, 

my grandparents never approved of my 
father. They say he eats like someone 
who starved to death in their past life. 
He slurps up noodles like a hurricane 
demolishing a village and gulps down his 
rice with the force of a ghost general who 
can make things disappear into thin air. 
They trace his crude manners to his peas-
ant lineage, saying no matter how smart 
a monkey is, it can only paddle in the 
ocean. My grandparents always called me 
a fat Shanxi girl, because I bear no resem-
blance to the women of . Whenever 
I ask for more rice, they take my bowl to 
refill it. But the bowl that appears before 
me is only half-full, with a familiar warn-
ing that crawls up behind my ear: “Don’t 
eat too much, or else you will be like your 
father.”

Bala hasad, Yasmine, say Smallah so you 

don’t give ayn”

This is a phrase that has been regurgitat-

ed to me throughout my life. When compli-
menting family and friends, I have always 
been careful to not cast the “evil eye” onto 
someone. Whether I have been conscious 
of it or not, the evil eye has played a signifi-
cant role in how I talk to and coexist with 
others.

The evil eye: a sacred phenomenon and 

the superstition of all superstitions. In my 
religion and culture, the evil eye is a widely 
held belief. It is a malicious gaze cast by an 
envious person, preventing one from good 
health and fortune by sending negativity 
their way. In order to be protected from 

hasad, or evil, various cultures have pro-
moted wearing or displaying the symbol 
as a form of defense. Over the course of 
my life, my home was littered with evil eye 
wall decor and I was constantly gifted evil 
eye jewelry by my loved ones. I was taught 
to bless others after giving compliments 
so as not to cast evil or bad fortune upon 
them. If my evil eye decor or jewelry were 
to break, I’d quickly become suspicious; 
legend has it that if your evil eye emblem 
breaks, it has successfully protected you 
from someone’s ayn or harmful “eye”. I 
would wonder, “has it really served its pur-
pose?” After, I’d promptly replace my pen-
dant, whether that be a necklace, anklet, 
bracelet, ring or keychain. Believing in this 
protection from evil almost became second 
nature to me, treating the evil eye as not 
only a superstition, but a way of thinking 
that translated into my everyday life. This 

easily discernible symbol, composed of a 
royal blue outer circle, white midsection 
pupil and small black iris, is more than just 
a colorful work of art. However, over time, 
the evil eye has lost its historical signifi-
cance, becoming more of a fashion fad than 
religious and cultural hieroglyph. 

The evil eye stems far beyond popular 

culture. Dating as early as 5,000 years ago, 
the first-ever recorded evil eye was marked 
on clay tablets by the Mesopotamians. 
Intersecting both culture and religion, 
wariness of evil is found in the scriptures 
of various religions — Islam, Judaism, Bud-
dhism and Hinduism (among others) — 
while also dating back to ancient Greek and 
Roman cultures. From the beginning of 
civilization, humans have feared a harmful 
gaze, doing whatever was in their power to 
protect themselves and their families from 
evil.

As a practicing Muslim, the evil eye 

has always been something I am wary of. 
I’ve been taught to be careful of the lan-
guage used when complimenting someone, 
almost always blessing them afterward 
with Islamic reaffirmations such as 
Mashallah and Smallah, in order to pre-
vent their good fortune from being jinxed. 
Throughout my life, I have gifted friends 
and family with variations of evil eye pen-
dants as protection from evil. As I write 
this, I am wearing an evil eye necklace and 
gold bracelet with multiple evil eye pen-
dants interlinked together. To some, this 
symbol ignorantly serves as a cute jewelry 
piece — an uninformed infatuation with 
cultural symbols without actually bearing 
the weight of carrying that culture. For 
those who practice the culture it originat-
ed from, the evil eye serves as a protective 
measure from harm they may not be aware 

of. In Islamic culture, the Hand of Fatima 
and the evil eye symbol are equal signs of 
protection that have reappeared hand in 
hand throughout my life. I often see new 
parents pin an evil eye charm to their new-
born child’s clothes, while others hang the 
Hand of Fatima or evil eye symbol in their 
new homes or business establishments. 
Some may even choose to dangle the sym-
bol from the rearview mirror of their car. 
Protection from hasad or “destructive 
envy” is a recurring theme in Islamic cul-
ture. Both religiously and culturally, the 
evil eye holds tremendous weight for those 
who believe in it, serving as much more 
than a trendy wardrobe fad, later to be 
found in a pile of other short-lived “fash-
ion must-haves” in the back of someone’s 

Here we go again: examining the NFL’s anti-Black discriminatory hiring processes

I love my clothes… but it’s complicated
Focaccia recipe from a Chinese 

daughter

Younji Jin/TMD

Design by Maya Sheth

MARIA PATTON

MiC Columnist

 JUAN P
ABLO ANGEL MARCOS
MiC Columnist

LOLA YANG
MiC Columnist

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

YASMINE ELKHARSSA

MiC Columnist

Evil eye: cultural emblem or fashion fad?

